1. Site operator and contact
Free HTL Guide is an independent educational website operated by Natnale Mengesha. Privacy questions and data requests may be sent to withnati@gmail.com.
The website is not affiliated with or endorsed by ASCP or the ASCP Board of Certification.
2. Studying without an account
You may use approved public learning content without creating an account. While signed out, the website may save study activity on your device, including lesson position, completed checklist items, quiz results, saved flags, unfinished practice sessions, theme choice, and privacy choices.
This information remains on that device unless you sign in and choose to add eligible progress to your account. Clearing browser data may remove locally saved information.
3. Learner accounts
Learner accounts are provided through Supabase. Account information may include your email address, display name, account identifier, verification status, sign-in and recovery activity, and information needed to keep your account secure.
Passwords are handled by the account provider and are not stored in Free HTL Guide learning-progress records. Use a password that you do not reuse on another service.
A verified account identifies the learner and supports eligible progress features. It does not automatically include Premium access.
4. Saved learning progress
When you sign in, you may choose to add progress already saved on the device to your account or continue with progress already associated with the account. Saved learning records may include:
- Lessons and study tasks started or completed.
- Quiz, mock-exam, and Targeted Practice scores, dates, duration, and domain results.
- Stable question and answer-choice identifiers needed to rebuild your study history.
- Saved flags and unfinished-session responses.
- Information needed to prevent duplicate records and protect newer unfinished work.
Learning records are designed not to store full question text, complete answer keys, personal notes, analytics consent, theme choice, or your email address in the progress tables.
5. Offline use and device recovery
When account progress is enabled, the website may keep a temporary device copy of recent progress so learning activity is not lost during a connection problem. Changes made while offline may be added to your account when the connection returns.
If two devices contain different unfinished versions of the same mock exam or Targeted Practice set, the website may ask which session you want to continue. Completed and unrelated work remains available.
6. Premium access
When Premium enrollment opens, the website may keep a record of the plan connected to your account, including whether access is active, canceled, expired, or revoked and the dates relevant to that access.
Premium lessons and practice tools are made available only to signed-in learners whose plan includes them. Creating an account, visiting a return page, or changing information saved in a browser does not by itself provide Premium access.
Premium checkout is not active yet. This policy will be reviewed before payments begin so the selected payment provider, billing information, and related choices are clearly described.
7. Export, reset, and deletion
My Progress and Account Settings provide controls for eligible progress export, progress reset, sign-out, and account deletion.
Deleting an account permanently removes the account and learner-owned saved progress that the active service is designed to delete. Limited provider backups, fraud-prevention records, or security logs may remain for a reasonable period when needed for operations, legal obligations, or abuse prevention.
8. Optional email updates
The optional email-update form may collect the email address you enter, your consent to receive occasional updates, and basic form information such as the source page. Form submissions are processed through Formspree.
Email addresses are not sold or used for third-party advertising. You may unsubscribe through an email link or by sending an unsubscribe request.
9. Optional analytics and explicit consent
Google Analytics 4 is configured, but analytics is available only after explicit consent. The optional analytics tag does not load until you choose Allow analytics. Declining analytics prevents the tag from loading on that device. You may reopen Privacy choices and change the decision later.
Approved analytics may include page views, lesson openings, scroll milestones, downloads, quiz starts and completion percentages, study-task use, sharing actions, and email-signup success or failure.
Optional analytics is not intended to include email addresses, names, personal notes, quiz answers, question-level responses, patient information, account identifiers, or complete URL query strings. Advertising personalization is disabled in the site configuration.
The optional analytics event-data retention setting is 14 months. Aggregate reports may remain available beyond the underlying event retention period.
10. Service providers and ordinary technical data
The website uses service providers for hosting, accounts, saved progress, email forms, protected learning content, and optional analytics. These services may process ordinary technical information such as IP address, browser and device details, requested page, request time, response status, and security events as needed to operate and protect their systems.
The current public site uses GitHub Pages during development. The approved production direction uses Cloudflare Pages for the website and Supabase for accounts, saved progress, and protected learning services.
11. Security
Free HTL Guide uses reasonable safeguards such as encrypted connections, account verification, access controls, private learning storage, controlled deployment, and automated tests. No online service can guarantee absolute security.
Report suspected unauthorized account access promptly. Do not send passwords, payment details, patient information, or employer-confidential information by email.
12. Retention and sharing
Information is kept only as long as reasonably needed to provide the requested service, preserve learner progress, process unsubscribe requests, investigate misuse, recover from failures, or meet legal and operational requirements.
Information may be shared with service providers needed to operate the website or when disclosure is legally required. Personal information is not sold.
13. Your choices
- Study public content while signed out.
- Allow or decline optional analytics.
- Choose whether to add device progress to an account.
- Export or reset eligible progress.
- Update your display name or password.
- Delete your account and saved account progress.
- Unsubscribe from optional email updates.
- Contact the site operator about access, correction, or deletion requests.
Identity verification may be required before acting on an account-specific request.
14. Children and educational scope
The website is intended for adult learners and laboratory professionals and is not designed to knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.
Educational content and progress indicators do not replace official examination guidance, validated laboratory procedures, safety requirements, institutional policy, or professional judgment.
15. Policy changes
This policy may be updated when account features, hosting, analytics, email services, Premium access, payments, or legal requirements change. The effective date will be updated when a material revision is published.